Home Defense

Putting a survival food list together can be overwhelming unless you do it the right way. Which one is the right way? That’s easy you gotta start with the essentials that you NEED and work your way towards what you WANT. We’ve put together a few sources for survival food lists and were surprised to see a few items labeled as MUST Haves.

Survival Food List NEED, WANT, MUST HAVE:

The Survivalist Blog gives you 10 Items that must be on your survival food list. Here are ten things that you can do right now that will make you better prepared than probably 90% of the population. And everything is available at your local shopping center – so it’s easy. You can do all ten steps at once or divide each into a separate week and shopping trip. But you need to get it done as soon as possible. Now for the surprise: “Now to the to the peanut butter shelf and toss two 40-ounce jars in the cart. The listed shelf life is just over two years and each jar has over 6,000 calories. Peanut butter is an excellent instant survival food.”

Grabtheapple.com has a neat 7 survival food list items based on this philosophy: Your stockpile should be enough to last for 72 hours. My criteria for a “survival food” is simply a food of high nutritional value, it has an expiration date a year or more away from the day you buy it, and it is a food that you’re already used to eating and know you like. If it’s lightweight and portable, even better. Get the full list here

Enjoy these survival food lists and make sure you don’t miss any of the thought behind why each food item is a must have on your survival food list.

A basic item that should be part of your emergency preparedness plan is the home survival kit. Actually your home survival kit should be the basis of other survival kits and packages that you keep in your car, office and even carry with you at all times. Here are the basics that you should take into account when preparing your home survival kit.

Getting Started with Your Home Survival Kit

The Red Cross has a home survival kit that covers most bases. Here is the bare minimum that should be an essential part of your home survival kit:

Water—one gallon per person, per day (3-day supply for evacuation, 2-week supply for home)

Here is the full list of supplies, documents and tools that should be part of your home survival kit according to the Red Cross recommendations

A great tip from LacetoLeather: Be sure to use and rotate your supplies (use oldest items first), and replace items as they are used up. Keep supplies clean and in working order. If you have a generator, run it as often as the manufacturer recommends to keep it in good order. They have put together a simple home survival kit that’s more of a checklist and can be very helpful in making sure you don’t forget anything when putting your kit together.

There are things that you simply cannot forget when putting together a home survival kit, but more importantly you should treat it as your guide for safety and one of the steps in your emergency preparedness plan

Do you have an emergency response plan? If you don’t it is a good idea to create an the emergency response plan template based on templates that are being used by universities, organizations and individuals.

What is an Emergency Response Plan?

UCSF put it best: “the Emergency Response Plan provides the management structure, key responsibilities, emergency assignments and general procedures to follow during an emergency. The Emergency Response Plan outlines the immediate actions and operations required for a major disaster or emergency in which normal operations are interrupted and special measures must be taken.”

An Emergency Response Plan Template: Which One Is Right for You?

There are many different ways to put together an emergency response plan, however having a template that you can follow makes things much simpler.

There are a few different templates out there but the main components of any emergency response plan template are:

Evacuation and transportation plan

Communication Plan

Roles to fill for each member of the family, company or community you are developing the plan for

The most important aspect of the emergency response plan template however is having a personal emergency plan. UChicago has prepared a personal emergency response plan template that students and everyone else can print out and fill out. They write: All members of the University community are encouraged to create a personal emergency response plan to guide the communication and actions between them and their loved ones during a disaster. Having such a plan can lessen the feelings of anxiety that may accompany such situations.

Keep at least one week’s worth of groceries on hand at all times, along with food for emergencies (granola bars, etc.).

Keep at least a three-day supply of emergency water (one gallon per person per day).

They have a very to the point emergency response plan template that you are welcome to use and adjust for your own needs. Check it out

As it turns out to make your own ultimate emergency response plan template you have to follow the lead of USA’s best Universities. It actually makes a lot of sense since they have a huge responsibility to students, parents and educators to take care of their safety (in a perfect reality of course). Therefore educating their staff and students and providing emergency response planning is taken so seriously by them and can be used by anyone to create their own ultimate emergency response plan template.

How do you find the best emergency preparedness checklist out here?

Follow these three lists and create your own ultimate emergency preparedness checklist.

MorePrepared, who offer emergency kits of all shapes and forms, recommend: that you keep a 3 to 7 day supply of Water and Food for each person. Flashlights and radios should not require batteries. Choose a manual crank or pump style instead. Dead batteries will not work when you really need them! They have a really easy to read emergency preparedness checklist that you can download, print out and follow with the entire family. Download it here.

Cleveland Country did a lot of research and work to prepare their citizens for unforeseen events and disasters. Actually they have a checklist that includes:

Creating an Emergency Plan

Preparing a Disaster Supplies Kit

Getting Tools and Supplies Ready

and even

A list of Important Family Documents

to prepare in case of an emergency.

Here is their full emergency preparedness checklist. which according to their site “is an accumulation of recommendations from FEMA, the American Red Cross, and other agencies around the world. While this list can be used for any thing, it is a general preparedness for any type of man-made or natural disaster.”

Finally 1800Prepare strongly advise: Your planning should see your family through a minimum of 14 days of survival. Fourteen days will statistically sustain you through 96% of known disaster emergency situations. Seven days will only get you through 50% of them. Consider more than 14 days of survival for locally-known situations where your area can be physically cut off from resupply for very long duration. Here is the emergency preparedness checklist they suggest you follow to be ready for survival in case of an event.

As you can see it is not as complicated as it seems to put together the ultimate emergency preparedness checklist, all you need is persistence, attention to detail and the understanding that everything depends on preparation. Your ability to prepare for an event now will determine how well you survive when an actual situation occurs.

There are thousands of earthquake emergency kit guides and lists out there, they are all great and cover pretty much all the bases. However to be able to truly protect your family in case of an event you really need to focus on combining them and creating your own, customized earthquake emergency kit. Here are the steps to follow:

Earthquake Emergency Kit: Easy 1, 2, 3 Steps

1. Do your research – google, talk to friends, read forum messages and gather all your info together.2. Put together one long list, don’t worry about repeating some of the steps and points.3. Categorize – now, take a look at what are some of the most important categories for your earthquake emergency kit followed by less obvious but still more important areas.

Three Important Areas to Cover in Your Earthquake Emergency Kit

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a very useful emergency survival kit checklist for your home, automobile, workplace. They remind you to: store your first aid supplies in a tool box or fishing tackle box so they will be easy to carry and protected from water. Inspect your kit regularly and keep it freshly stocked. NOTE: Important medical information and most prescriptions can be stored in the refrigerator, which also provides excellent protection from fires.

Earthquake Countryfocus on the psychology behind earthquake prep: “If earthquakes scare us because we feel out of control, think how much more true this must be for children, who already must depend on adults for so much of their lives. It is important to spend time with children in your care before the next earthquake to explain why earthquakes occur. Involve them in developing your disaster plan, prepare disaster supplies kits, and practice “drop, cover, and hold on.” Consider simulating post-earthquake conditions by going without electricity or tap water.”

MedicineNethas all the meds covered but they actually mention a really important aspect that should be part of every single earthquake emergency kit you put together: Develop an Emergency Communication Plan: “In case family members are separated from one another during an earthquake (a real possibility during the day when adults are at work and children are at school), develop a plan for reuniting after the disaster. Ask an out-of-state relative or friend to serve as the “family contact.” After a disaster, it’s often easier to call long distance. Make sure everyone in the family knows the name, address, and phone number of the contact person.”

Two heads are better than one, this is something that many people overlook even if they are hardcore preppers. Use the knowledge of others to help your family stay safe and to create a great earthquake emergency kit that you can be proud of. Then share your knowledge with others to help them stay safe as well.

Obviously, things are not getting any better since the economic crisis in 2008 has begun, and apparently – it isn’t going anywhere.

Now, this argument makes sense for you reading my blog, whether you are looking to protect your own business, or you own home, or maybe your old folks.

The question is which kind of Home Defense Weapons you should be using to defense your beloved ones, or your successful business?

Well, there used to be 2 main options up until the last couple of years – a Shotgun, or a Pistol –read here about the difference between a Shotgun and a Pistol.

The shotgun as a home defense weapon is more difficult to handle, it forces you in many ways to be static once you hold it, but on the other hand – it is much more precise, thanks to its size.

The Pistol as a home defense weapon is much easier to maneuver with find your position in case of somebody invading to your house, but as mentioned before – it is harder to master.

After mentioning the 2 “classical” solutions for home weapons, allow me to say few words about the 3rd option:

The Rifle.

There is no doubt regarding the power the rifle has in comparison to the shotgun, but – that’s not what we are looking for in this post. Since we want to use home defense weapons – and I guess most of you folks don’t have a 1/4 mile of backyard, you would want to use the shotgun, and here are the reasons, I have written them as questions, and my answers are attached:

What are the primary differences between shotguns and rifles?-

- A shotgun is a smooth bore. A rifle has spiral grooves called rifling cut into the barrel which cause the bullet to spin. Though this distinction is becoming less useful because shotguns with rifled barrels designed to shoot deer slugs are becoming more common

Considering the strongest in each – which one is stronger?

- Rifles are more powerful, though its complicated why. Common shotguns in 10-12 gauge top out around 2,000 ft-lbs of energy. A common rifle round like the .30-06 will exceed that by 500 to 1000 ft-lbs of energy. If we go into the exotics, even something like a 4 gauge only turns out 3886.82 ft-lbs of energy while a .50 BMG turns out up to 14,000 ft-lbs. So I’m giving this one to the rifles.

Which one is more effective at personal defense- this is actually the most important question you should be looking for:

- This is going to draw a lot of debate. Personally I think it’s the shotgun. The reason is fairly simple. Shotguns (usually) fire shot, many small lead pellets which expand increasing the odds you’ll hit what you’re shooting at. Because of this, shotguns aren’t aimed as much as they’re pointed. Rifles fire a single bullet. You have to aim the rifle so that the bullet hits the target. So for an untrained or poorly trained person, a shotgun is a better choice since they just have to point and shoot. However in the hands of a trained rifleman, a semi-automatic or select-fire rifle with a large capacity magazine is devastatingly effective in the self-defense role.

Which one is more effective at close distance? (Within 10-15 yards

- The shotgun hands down. Not only is it easier to aim, but the fact it uses shot means in a self-defense situation you would hit a person with many rounds simultaneously.

As for the long distance it is the opposite – the rifle is much more exact, and doesn’t lose accuracy when going for a longer distance, but again – we are into self-defense here, we want to keep our environmental surrounding safe.

Now, I have gathered some information about the leading weapon in each category – and I want to share that with you:

Rifle – well, the best one in the market as of now is Winchester PDX1 .223, also great for home use, since its overpentration is treated in a manner that the bullets are scattered after hitting the target, in a way that won’t harm the surroundings (too much…) in case you miss the target.

Shotgun – Remington 870 or Mossberg 500, they are both excellent shotguns, but as far as for the home defense weapon we are looking for, I would go for the Mossberg, just because it is lighter in terms of weight. You don’t want it to get too heavy when its time to make some noise.

Pistol – Glock 19 is the most user-friendly pistol you can find, maybe too friendly because you need to give quite a lot of attention when you are holding it, a tip: don’t press when you are shaky, you might hear a shot made when you didn’t even want it to happen.

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A security alarm is a system designed to detect intrusion – unauthorized entry – into a building or area. Security alarms are used in residential, commercial, industrial, and military properties for protection against burglary (theft) or property damage, as well as personal protection against intruders.